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Saturday, January 24, 2015

Impressions #22: Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut

I play
games of all manner of strips. Platformers, shooters, RPGs, and many
other genres. As a result, I have acquired many unique tastes. No
game represents “unique tastes” any more than Deadly Premonition.
Developed by Access Games, this title was, and is, the brain-child of
Hidetaka Suehiro, more commonly known as SWERY. It embodies a style
and tone all its own, distinct from almost every other game I have
ever played. Though it still has flaws which cannot be overlooked, it
is truly a gem of a game.

Taking
place in the fictional town of Greenvale, Washington, Deadly
Premonition follows the adventures of FBI Special Agent Francis York
Morgan. He has put himself on the case of the murder of an
18-year-old waitress named Anna Graham. The reason is that it
possesses an alarming amount of similarities to an unusual string of
killings he has been investigating across the continental United
States. Through many trials and tribulations, York must gather clues
from various crime scenes to solve the mystery behind these deaths.

Like in
Persona 4, I found the murder mystery hook worked extremely well for
me. I love analyzing all of characters and clues to see if I can
piece the puzzle together myself. This game has plenty of that. If
the player pays careful attention to the story, characters, and
clues, it is entirely possible to deduce the culprit early on. In
that sense, the writing is extremely fair. The game does not cheat by
holding back key elements of specific scenes until the last minute.
Despite that, I did not completely figure everything out until the
big reveal. I was personally quite impressed by the game's writing.

Another
aspect to the game I give it credit for is its cast. Though I have
never watched the show, I have it on good authority that the cast of
characters was heavily inspired by Twin Peaks. Every character
in the game has their own unique quirks and traits. In their own way,
every one of them is memorable. At the same time, and I am still
unsure if this is intentional or not, they all have something “off”
about them. Either in the way they speak, their personality, or in
their animations, the entire cast each have some way to invoke the
feeling of the Uncanny
Valley. As a result, while the town is
memorable, and players will begin to slowly feel more and more at
home as they play the game, there is an inescapable “creepy”
feeling. During my playthrough, I found it oddly compelling.

This is
especially true of York himself, who might be the most quirky. After
all, the player does not even truly play as York. Rather, they assume
the role of Zach, the personality inside York's head that gives him
advice and helps to guide him in his cases. This persona helps by
giving York someone to explain his thought process to, and a way to
elicit response and interaction from the player. In a very real
sense, Zach is a player cipher. Having said that, he has a history
and background with York, that also gets explored through the course
of the game. It is a very interesting tactic to bring players into
the world, one I think could be applied to other games.

In terms
of play, Deadly Premonition is very much like a life-simulator in
many respects. As time marches on, Agent York grows more hungry and
sleepy. The player is tasked with making sure that he eats and sleeps
at regular intervals, to avoid exhaustion or starvation. Furthermore,
story events only take place at specific times. For example, a
character who needs to be interrogated will only appear at their
location from 10:00 to 17:00 (the game uses military time for
arbitrary reasons, just go with it). If the player does not arrive at
the specified destination in time, they will have to try again the
next day. Should they get there early, they will have to come back
within the mandated timeframe. On the surface, it appears that this
is to grant the player free time to explore the area. However, since
I did not really have an interest in side content, I had my character
pass the time in the menu. None of this is difficult, and food is
pretty cheap, so it mostly serves as a way to become more invested
into the town of Greenvale. To the game's credit, this endeavor is
largely successful.

The
other aspect of gameplay seems wholly unnecessary. That is, whenever
York enters a new crime scene in order to gather evidence, he is
accosted by what appear seem like zombies. These scenarios are never
difficult, as most of them will die in a few (easy to make)
headshots. Furthermore, although these segments are easy, the
controls feel very clunky. York cannot even move and attack at the
same time unless he uses a melee weapon. Should the player take the
melee route, they should know that weapons degrade as they are used.
Fortunately, defeated zombies have chances to drop melee weapons and
ammo for ranged weapons, and the default pistol has infinite ammo. It
appears to try to invoke many common horror tropes. At the same time,
the player never seems to feel like they are in any actual danger.
Since these areas also seem to take place in some alternate world,
York does not even get hungry or tired in these sections. They just
seem very tacked on.

At the
same time, they do offer one good element as well. As York collects
the clues in an area, he will continually profile the events of the
crime. Initially, the profile will be very fuzzy. However, for each
clue, portions of the profile begin to fill in. Once all of the clues
are gathered, York will then have a complete picture of what
happened, which will further the investigation and reveal new leads
to progress the story. These scenes help the player to better
understand York's deductive method, by observing the wheels turning
in his mind. Though I do like this, this same level of immersion
could be achieved better by removing the unnecessary combat.

Ultimately,
Deadly Premonition is not a game for everyone. It has some minor
flaws, but they are not what makes the game so difficult to
recommend. What does make it difficult is the fact that it is so
unique that it has the potential to off-put people looking for a more
traditional experience. That said, some people, like those who
appreciate Telltale's brand of storytelling, will feel right at home
with Deadly Premonition. Others who enjoy a good murder-mystery
inspired by Twin Peaks will also enjoy their time. So give it a try,
but be warned that it may not necessarily be to your liking.